Handling Grapes for MarKet 



IT is one thing to produce grapes of 

 good marketable quality; it is a 

 different matter to harvest and 

 market them in such a way as to make 

 the industry profitable. In this latter 

 branch of the work, many fruit growers 

 are unsuccessful; some through ignor- 

 ance of the proper methods of grading 

 and packing, more through carelessness 

 in the work. Careless and shiftless meth- 

 ods of handling are detrimental to the 

 trade. 



In grapes we have one of our most 

 tender fruits, one that is easily rendered 

 unsaleable by rough usage. Further- 

 more, it is a product that is consumed 

 almost wholly as a dessert fruit, lending 

 itself only to such secondary products 

 as wine and jam, which, considering the 

 vast acreage in grapes, is a comparative- 

 ly small outlet, and one used principally 

 for the less valuable fruit. Consequent- 

 ly, the grower is largely at the control of 

 the market and only fruit of a good qual- 

 ity, that is, properly graded and packed, 

 will find ready sale. I was about to use 

 the word "faced," but that is a term 

 that has been abused by fraudulent 

 packers to such an extent as to cause 

 buyers to regard all faced fruit with 



G. H. Carpenter, Fruitland, Ont. 



whole market, and all growers of fruit. 

 Such men when caught should be dealt 

 with in proportion to their crime, which 

 is no small affair. 



Unhke many fruits, the grape will not 

 ripen after being picked. It must be 

 allowed to mature on the vine. Com- 

 mence cutting when the dew is off in the 

 morning, remove all green, broken and 

 diseased berries, and pack carefully in 

 the package in which the fruit is to be 

 shipped. In this way, the fruit is hand 

 led but once, it is kept clean, the bloom 

 is preserved and you have a nice, attrac- 

 tive package, which is always in demand 

 on the local markets. In this system, 

 which is the one universally adopted in 

 the general trade, great care must be 

 exercised in handUng the fruit, and only 

 personal supervision over pickers by 

 those who understand the stage of matur- 

 ity at which fruit should be picked, and 

 proper methods of grading and packing, 

 will insure the best success. 



Many middlemen who have special 

 markets whereby they place their fruit 

 directly into the hands of the consumers, 

 make use of specially prepared packages 

 to suit their own particular trade. These 

 packages bear the brand of the packer 



Preparing Grapes for Shipment, Carleton Fruit Farm, St. Catharines 



suspicion. If those miserable frauds who 

 persist in covering trash with a layer of 

 good fruit were alone injured, it 

 would not matter much ; the practice 

 would soon be stopped ; but the fruit 

 being unlabelled, its sale injures the 



and serve to advertise both the fruit and 

 the shipper. Where these are in use 

 the fruit is graded and repacked in pack- 

 ing houses or other convenient places, 

 and only fruit of the highest quality is 

 made use of. Too much care cannot be 



exercised in the preparation of such 

 packages. All extra cost and labor are 

 fully compensated for by the high prices 

 paid by consumers who desire the best 

 quality of fruit direct from the vines. 

 This principle is also made use of by 



In the Midst of Plenty 



unions and cooperative associations, 

 and, in many^cases, by individual grow- 

 ers who have been shrewd enough to 

 advertise their business through the 

 quality of the fruit handled, and have 

 thus secured private customers. 



The essential points in handling grapes 

 are: handle the fruit as httle as possible, 

 consistent, of course, with the market 

 to which you are catering ; do not handle 

 until ripe, then pick; keep out of the 

 direct rays of the sun, and get them off 

 your hands as quickly as possible so as to 

 have them looking fresh when placed on 

 the market. There is always a demand 

 for the best. If we strive to put fruit 

 up in a clean, neat and attractive way, 

 in the way the people want it, or in such 

 a way as to make them believe they 

 want it, we need not worry about low 

 prices or slow sales; the fruit will sell 

 itself. __^_ 



OrcKard Notes 



Examine the peach and plum trees 

 for peach borer larvae, and destroy all 

 that are found. 



A little wood ashes around the fruit 

 trees is a good thing. Spread it 

 thinly; too much in a place may injure 

 or kill the trees. 



If there is a tree in your orchard that 

 yielded no fruit this year and looks 

 like it will not live another year, dig 

 it out of the way. It only serves as 

 a brooding place for insects and fungi, 

 and is very injurious in this way to 

 the other trees. 



